On a never-ending quest for something

Tag: bandcamp

I decided to offer all my music for which I own the copyrights* for free, now and in the future. “Free” means all music I have on my own label (L2 Music) can be downloaded for as low as zero (all currencies, smiles preferred) or for whatever amount you think is right, in the best possible quality! There are no hooks, eyelets or hidden conditions. There is just music.

You can either stream my music for free via Spotify or stream and/or download at Bandcamp.

*Digital downloads, not physical products, of course. I have no influence on the price of my music that I have signed with other labels, hence I can not offer this for free. But all of my albums are on my own label, and most of my non-dance-music productions.

Of course, I will still do paid remixes (and receive royalties for those), and sign my music to other labels, mostly dance music productions. But music on my own label (my albums etc.) will be free from now on.

Why am I doing this?

It’s simple, really. There is no point in asking you to pay for the download of music files anymore when you can stream it for free already. Those who like to listen to music in top quality (the audiophiles among you), there are the free or pay-what-you-want downloads at Bandcamp.

Nevertheless, I would like to ask each one of you to support me by becoming my patron:

Thank you, no matter if you’re just a listener or paying subscriber/downloader. You’re all equally valuable to me.

Like this:

And so all day this Friday, February 3rd (starting at 12:01am Pacific Time), for any purchase you make on Bandcamp, we will be donating 100% of our share of the proceeds to the American Civil Liberties Union, who are working tirelessly to combat these discriminatory and unconstitutional actions.

The American Civil Liberties Union is a non-profit organization whose stated mission is “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.” Short: they were the ones that sued Donald Trump, and they deserve all our support. Plus, you get some great music.

Here’s something to get you started with, my latest album from 2014:

85% of what you pay for my music will go to me. Also not a bad thing, if you ask me. 😉 Thank you!

Like this:

THE SITUATION

As both a DJ and composer, the Circle of Fifth or the Camelot Key Wheel system — amongst others — have always been handy tools for me to write and mix music harmonically. There are just too many options in chord progressions than I could ever have in my memory (maybe you can, but I don’t). Plus, I personally use 3 different DJ applications and 3 different DAWs for music production alone, for different purposes.

So yeah, I could always have a look at above mentioned helpers to orientate myself through the notes and chords jungle, in case needed, which is not always the case. I have the most common chords in my head. Just not always.

As a composer I’m fine with the musical key/chord system, i.e. “A minor“, but as a DJ it isn’t very likely (for me, again) to remember all the musical chords to know what to mix into what. So, smart people came up with different systems like the Camelot Keys (Mixed in Key, which I prefer, because of its accuracy) or the Open Keys (Traktor). Which is basically a range of 12 keys for each gender, major and minor chords. “A minor” is 8A (Camelot Key) or 1m (Open Key). In a nutshell: if you mix 1A into 2A (and so forth, up until 12A and then into 1A again) you’re generally fine. Your mixing transitions will always be harmonic, no key clashes. This example is the very basic part of harmonic mixing or composing. And also a bit boring if you do that all the time. It becomes really good and interesting when you use all the options within the world of chord progressions.

What I was missing in all those years of composing and DJing was ONE chart (to rule them all) that shows me ALL key/chord systems and their equivalents, their piano keys (very useful for composing) and their harmonic keys/chords. I searched the net in order to find out if someone did this, but no one did. At least I couldn’t find it.

THE SOLUTION

So, I did it myself. 8 hours work and I had what I was looking for. And since I guess this could be useful for every musician/DJ, I want to share it here with you. This is how it looks like (click to open the full resolution file):

You can download the high-res JPG above, print it out and use it for yourself, if you like. Here’s a PDF and the original EXCEL version of it, in case you want to edit/modify something for your needs (let me know when you find mistakes or when you improved it!):

WHAT DOES IT DO, HOW DO I USE THIS?

Let’s take an example for a composing or mixing situation:

The chord we’re working with at the moment is A minor (or 8A, or 1m). What shall be next? Everything in the table below — around the 8A — is possible, it will be harmonic. The closer to the 8A it is the more harmonic it’ll be.

Composing Keys

DJ Keys

Harmonic Keys

Western Music Scale

Piano Chord Keys

Camelot Key

Open Key

Scale Degree

DJ Keys up/down

D minor

D | F | A

7A

12m

Fourth (Sub-Dominant)

-1

C major

C | E | G

8B

1d

Relative major

A minor

A | C | E

8A

1m

Same key (tonic)

E minor

E | G | B

9A

2m

Fifth (Dominant)

1

B-flat/♭ minor

A# | C# | F

3A

8m

Low energy boost

7

B minor

B | D | F#

10A

3m

High energy boost (supertonic)

2

A-flat/♭ minor

G | B | D#

1A

6m

Low energy drain

-7

G minor

G | A# | D

6A

11m

High energy drain (leading tone)

-2

But your decision what to do next is depending on the purpose. What kind of “feel” do you want to give your mix or composition?

EXAMPLES

Here are some possible chord progression scenarios, working with the Camelot Keys (which I prefer, at least for DJing), starting with 8A:

I could make up a hell of a lot more examples now (with even sillier names), but you most probably already get the idea. The options are really endless, and you’ll always be composing or DJing harmonic. The above scenarios are just examples. Find out what works for yourself, I’m sure you’ll have fun experimenting with chord progressions, using this nifty chart. Oh, and don’t mind the silly names … it’s just about giving things a name. 😉

It’s free! Download, share, modify, re-publish and generally do with it whatever you want. But please, don’t pretend you did this. Credit would be nice (and fair), but is no condition.

Now, if you’d head over to bandcamp and buy my music, that’ll be rather nice:

Update, January 2017

This is how it looks like when someone make a huge print of it, for the studio.

Like this:

NEW!

In January 2018, I decided to offer all my music for which I own the copyrights* for free, now and in the future. “Free” means all music I have on my own label (L2 Music) can be downloaded for as low as zero (all currencies, smiles preferred) or for whatever amount you think is right, in the best possible quality! There are no hooks, eyelets or hidden conditions. There is just music.

You can either stream my music for free via Spotify or stream and/or download at Bandcamp.

*Digital downloads, not physical products, of course. I have no influence on the price of my music that I have signed with other labels, hence I can not offer this for free. But all of my albums are on my own label, and most of my non-dance-music productions.

Of course, I will still do paid remixes (and receive royalties for those), and sign my music to other labels, mostly dance music productions. But music on my own label (my albums etc.) will be free from now on.

Why am I doing this?

It’s simple, really. There is no point in asking you to pay for the download of music files anymore when you can stream it for free already. Those who like to listen to music in top quality (the audiophiles among you), there are the free or pay-what-you-want downloads at Bandcamp.

Nevertheless, I would like to ask each one of you to support me by becoming my patron:

Thank you, no matter if you’re just a listener or paying subscriber/downloader. You’re all equally valuable to me.

If you don’t feel like supporting me on a regular (but one-time) basis, it would be nice if you’d…

Buy me a cup of coffee

A ridiculous amount of coffee was consumed in the process of creating all this music. Add some fuel if you'd like to keep me going!

Note: The music featured on this page is not my complete work, but the most important and recent.

Latest releases

“Bagabond is a very prolific electronic music producer who presents the EP ‘Restless Warrior’ on Pro B Tech. The intriguing title honors the content of the entire album. A ruthless warrior on a rousing adventure that takes place on faded melody lines that help you dance your way through this journey. This record contains three tracks and one of them is a vibrant remix by Ingo Vogelmann.”

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Time since the first radio show aired

22 October 2005

13.2years ago.

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